Manchester United made almost £10m from Danny Drinkwater and Michael Keane’s summer transfers

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Date: November 18, 2017

Manchester United received almost £10m during the summer due to other clubs’ transfer moves.

Premier League champions Chelsea signed ex-Red Danny Drinkwater, while Michael Keane, another academy graduate from Man United, joined Everton for £30m from Burnley.

As a result of both of those deals, United benefitted greatly.

The club’s first-quarter accounts, released on Wednesday, showed that the club had taken in £17.3m in transfers, with £8m of that coming from Adnan Januzaj’s transfer fee as he joined La Liga side Real Sociedad.

It shows the great benefits of including sell-on clauses when United are allowing players to leave. Drinkwater left the club back in 2011, having started playing in Red aged nine back in 1999. He never played for United, but has earned the club millions of pounds through success elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Keane played five times for United before joining Burnley, after a successful loan move, in 2015. He was heavily linked to a return to Old Trafford this summer, but Jose Mourinho opted to sign Swedish centre-back Victor Lindelof from Portuguese club Benfica for £30.7m instead.

Keane was also linked to Everton’s Merseyside rivals Liverpool and United’s local rivals Manchester City, but ended up at Everton in a £30m deal.

United are continuing the policy of including sell-on clauses, and are also now looking at including buy-back clauses into permanent transfers away from the club. Memphis Depay is one such player who United could bring back to the club if he truly impresses at Olympique Lyonnais. Both actions are very sensible, because there’s very little risk but potentially a huge reward for the club.